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Things you need in your leadership life right now!

May 30, 2019 by Amber Leave a Comment

Ah, the glorious calmness of June and July! This is where, hopefully, as leaders, we can pause, reflect, rest and rejuvenate!

Here are a few things you can add to your plate for the next couple of months…one to read, one to plan, and one to HELP.

  1. If you haven’t read Abby Wambach’s new book, “WolfPack“, stop what you’re doing and order it immediately. It’s a quick read but full of leadership gems…like this one
    I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.

    Click To Tweet

    Doesn’t that resonate with you as a leader? If not because someone else assisted you, then maybe because our goal should be all about assisting others. I have 7 staff members leaving this year, but they are ALL promoting in some capacity. That’s the only reason I want people leaving! If an assist from me is what it takes for people to see/recognize their potential, I am in!

2. How do you take notes? I am a hand written note kinda gal and I use this Coiled Notebook notebook from Erin Condren to keep EVERYTHING in one place. There’s even a todo list on the side of these pages, which helps tremendously in my district meetings! If you haven’t ordered from Erin Condren before, here is a link to $10 off your first purchase! Whether it be a leadership meeting, a team meeting or a curriculum meeting, this keeps them all in one place and I just use a sticker divider to keep my areas separated. If I only have to keep up with one place to find notes, it makes logical sense that I am less likely to lose or forgot what was decided from one place to another.

3. Start your postcard planning NOW! I design a postcard in ppt and have it ready to go as soon as we start back! No matter the changes I have coming up, I know I’ll want to send postcards to Wolves. I send at least one card to each of our students each year, but more if I can! Here’s what we used last year.

4. I’m a nerd and I love Flair pens. This Candy Pop Pack makes me think of sunshine and summertime and how sad can I be while working and taking notes when I have fun colored Flair Pens?? ( i just saying that to myself over and over.)

5. Easiest post its to use while summer working? Bright colored lined post its! These are easy to add to my notebook above but also on my monitor, my top desk drawer, where ever I need to add a list to help me focus. I love a good list…

 

What do YOU do in these early summer months? Are you off? Working? What should I be adding to my Wolf world??

 

All summer workN &

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: #beintentional, AmberTeamann

Fab Fridays in February, 2019

January 23, 2019 by Amber 2 Comments

My principal bestie (and future co-author) Melinda Miller always shares that October and February are the two worst months of the school year, in fact…she calls them the armpits of the year! (which is both gross and awkwardly appropriate!)

I’ve done these Fab Fridays with her for a NUMBER of years and while the activities vary from year to year (including a great new addition from Melissa K this year!) the message is always the same.

We see you.

We appreciate you.

We want you to feel supported, loved and encouraged.

Now you can do these things ALL the time of course, but there’s something about alliteration that just makes my heart happy!

Here is this years version…

I’ve had some inquiries about how we fund these…and the answer varies as much as the activity. For the soups, I have parents signed up to bring soups and fixings, the fruit & nacho bar we’ll use our discretionary money for, and the book reading will be FREE…minus some fun new book titles I need. 🙂

Here are other years of ideas, and if you’re an admin you can always join our appreciation and morale group on facebook!

  • https://technicallyteamann.com/motivating-staff-winter-doldrums-fabfridays-2018/
  • https://technicallyteamann.com/help-curb-teacher-burnout-with-fab-fridays-in-february/
  • https://technicallyteamann.com/make-your-fridays-in-february-fabulous-thefirstyear/
  • https://technicallyteamann.com/fab-fridays-in-february/
  • https://technicallyteamann.com/fabulous-fridays/

Have any fab ideas to add? Share!

Staff loveN and

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: amber teamann, freebies

#Principalconfession: Data day stresses me out.

August 10, 2018 by Amber 4 Comments

I’ve talked a lot about how I think transparency in this role is crucial. There can be so much pressure to be Pinterest perfect, even as a principal. Now that I am entering year 4, I generally feel as if I have a pretty good grip on what I am doing and in what direction we’re all heading.

Nothing will make me doubt that faster than a deep data dive.

This post isn’t about the merits of testing or my personal stance on its purpose in education. I don’t want to debate any of that drama. It’s above my pay grade! THIS IS NOT THAT POST!

This post is about how it makes me feel, physically, when trying to have a conversation, with one of the hardest working staffs I’ve had the privilege of working with. One that is encouraging and supportive, but also accountable, challenging and motivating.

When we met as a district leadership team to review our campus performance data, my roller coaster of a reaction varied on the page I was on. Some pages were great. Some were amazing. Some made me see the potential. Some had gains across the board and some had leveled off.

I should also point out that we did really well, overall. 

But that isn’t what I walked away thinking. I walked away needing a pedicure and some quiet time. My immediate next step was to figure out how to deliver this same info to those hard-working teachers. Even what we did well in was overshadowed by the areas where we could have done better.

My goal, always, via Todd Whitaker, is for them to walk away from our campus meetings more excited to teach tomorrow than they were today. This meeting did not do that. Even my body revolted against me, I could feel the beginnings of a fever blister.

Delivering the reality of what we did, knowing that we can always do better (b/c hello, growth mindset and we can ALWAYS DO BETTER!) is incredibly difficult to do without making people feel like what they did wasn’t good enough. And even if that’s true? That is a sucky thing. 

I think I need to read more sports leadership books…this is what coaches deal with all the time, right? Playing hard, leaving it all on the field…and still not winning every game. That can be the reality in the classroom too.

I have decided that we won’t be doing anymore whole group data days moving forward. We’ll meet separately as a grade level PLC, and have these conversations. Same data will be shared, face time will still happen to everyone. Celebrations will be more meaningful and but I am hoping the “where can we ‘level up” chat will also be easier in smaller safer place.

So there. Principal confession. I hate data days. I love data and what it can to help, guide, and inform…but man, it stresses me out.

Make me feel better and tell me YOUR principal confession!!

 

Confessionally and

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: AmberTeamann

The Power of Positive Leadership

June 13, 2018 by Amber 1 Comment

I posted something on Instagram this week about choosing happiness. So much of our attitude and mentality is within our control…but it’s up to us to harness it! As I sit, awaiting our state STAAR scores…I thought it would be a powerful reminder that my happiness is my choice. 😉
Being positive isn’t just an attitude, it can be a life uplifting direction.

Click To Tweet

 Check out these tidbits I came across from Twitter:

( I love Twitter. @8amber8)
  • 1. Positive People Live Longer – In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed positive emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)
  • 2. Positive work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)
  • 3. Positive, optimistic salespeople sell more than pessimistic salespeople. (Martin Seligman)
  • 4. Positive leaders are able to make better decisions under pressure. (Heartmath.org)
  • 5. Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce. (John Gottman)
  • 6. Positive people who regularly express positive emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (several studies)
  • 7. Positive people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions whereas negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)
  • 8. Positive thoughts and emotions counter the negative effects of stress. For example, you can’t be thankful and stressed at the same time. (several studies)
  • 9. Positive emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org)
  • 10. Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity. (Robert D. Putnam)
  • 11. Positive and popular leaders are more likely to garner the support of others and receive pay raises and promotions and achieve greater success in the workplace. (Tim Sanders)
I’m ok with ALL of these things!!
(I’m pretty sure Troy Aikman agrees with #9. IJS.)
Add being positive to your 2018 summer to do list…let’s see if our positivity buckets can all overflow!
Sunshine SpreadN &,

Filed Under: Leadership, Principal, Uncategorized Tagged With: #beintentional, AmberTeamann

Letters to the Beast…or what I wish I knew at 16…

February 2, 2018 by Amber 2 Comments

Recently my oldest, my beast, turned 16.

16, ya’ll.

That’s OLD!

That’s driving age, thinking about college age, preparing to be all grown up age. When I think back to who I was, or thought I was going to be at 16, I don’t know that I had any concept of the life I had before me. All the things that I would go through, the friends that would change, or the reality of that all grown-upness. Those crazy fun college memories, the lessons life would teach me. That was a distant possibility to a girl living in the Grove. (aka: the hood!)

I wish I’d had more of the friends I do now, the levelheaded mature friends. The middle-aged (gulp.) ones that see past where you’ve been and instead empower all that they know you are.

The independent, strong friends…who remind me of who I still want to be, even at my age.

That show women have a choice, and a voice…the power to do what we want when we want…if we are calm, and think things through.

That you can be your own boss and you can walk your own path.

That you’re not defined by your mistakes, and can actually grow to be even more wise and stronger because of them. Ones that tell me that mistakes don’t derail your dreams, sweet girl, but instead, just give you a more creative, scenic route, to get you there.

The friends that help you see that strong women aren’t your competition, that Jesus loves you, and that your parents are actually way more right than they are wrong.

 

Luckily, I am surrounded by women who teach me these messages. Some of have been in my beast’s life for a few years, some for all 16. Some are family, some are practically family. Knowing that she’d never listen to these messages from me, no matter how great our relationship is, I reached out to the amazing women in my life.  From the one that was in the room with me when I delivered to the ones I call now to lament her high school teenage angst with…I reached out.

I asked them to write her a letter. A “What you wish you knew at 16” letter…and to seal it up in a self-addressed stamped envelope and mail it to my girl. On the first of each month (and a few extras for “bad” days”!) she’ll choose one, not knowing who it’s from, and read their words of wisdom. The incomparable Emily Turner (owner of RaiderDoodles) hand decorated each envelope. They are incredible! Each one is different and special. The beast has opened each one so carefully, she wants to save the artistic envelopes too! Look at these!

 

 

 

We’re a few months in now, and while each one has made me cry, they are also already heavily creased from her rereads. The words they shared have already made an impact. They are all directed to her in this stage of her life…and have varied from a bulleted list to four pages of “you’re incredible, you’re amazing and here’s what you do when you don’t feel that way”.

They’re beautiful. They’re heartfelt.  They’re what I ALSO wish I’d known at 16.

I am so thankful for the powerful, strong women in my life. Not just for me, however, but for the love and the guidance they’re now sharing with my beast.

 

Value the people in your world, from your IRL relationships to those you know online. You never know when you’ll have an opportunity to grow and learn from what they have to offer.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: AmberTeamann

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